The Pieces Lie Where They Fell

by Evilhumour

Chapter One: Xvital

Chapter One

Xvital

With a chirp in her mouth, Xvital woke up in a very good mood. Hopping out of the bed, she reached over with her tail to turn off the alarm clock she had obtained a while back. Letting out a mighty yawn as she stretched her arms out behind her, she began to pack her belongings into her pack with her other hand.

Shaking her head back and forth to try and rid herself of the last of the tiredness, she turned around to properly finish packing her stuff away as well as do a short inventory check up before she headed to stand in line to enter the Upper.

Currency, check. Papers, check. Notebooks, check. Long knife and knuckle busters, check. Other miscellaneous items, check.

“Good to go,” she said to herself, a smirk breaking across her face as she slung her pack across her shoulders as she fixed her belt around her waist with her other hand, dropping her left hand down to make it easier. Tightening the belt with her two hands, she fixed her short knife to her waist with her right hand. It was pointless extra security as few as ponies from Canterlot Middle or Upper would bother someone obviously from the Cuanmiztl Kingdom but it never hurt to be careful.

Leaving the room she had rented for the night, Xvital made her way downstairs in quick time with ponies moving out of her way but keeping quiet about her appearance. Ponies this high in the Middle liked to pretend they were Upper citizens and that meant being all polite and proper.

Xvital let out a snort; the Middle had the silliest of citizens: acting if they were better than those who lived in the Lower or if they were the elites that lived in the Upper. How could they not know that the only real difference was the amount of direct threats presented to you was beyond her but it had been amusing to Tartarus to see these Middle ponies preen needlessly.

Using her rear hand to grab an apple from the basket on the inn counter while flicking a brass Cadence to the mare that ran this inn and opening the door with her left, she flashed a toothy smile to the owner.

“Thanks,” she said, dipping her navy blue head and shaking her black hair behind her, she stepped into the early day. Towering over most of the Middle inhabitants, baring the griffons and minotaurs, she began to whistle as she made her way to the West Gatehouse. While Xvital could have gotten a room in the North-West quarter, and gone through one of the many gatehouses there, the morning sun would be in her green eyes as she stood in queue to get into the Upper and screw that noise.

Chewing her apple, she did her best to keep her head upright and avoid looking at the beggars lining the street, knowing that they would be brushed away for the Hounor Festival tomorrow. The griffon, diamond dogs, minotaurs and pony beggars would be pushed into the back alleys or down the mountain by the Guards at the very least. The changeling beggars were already antsy and careful of who they begged to for obvious reasons. Looking around, Xvital could spot several changelings moving younger ‘lings away into the hidden streets for their safety, knowing they’d be taking their lives in their own hands if they were seen tomorrow and the next few days.

Pushing it away as it wasn’t her concern, she continued up the pathway to the Cadenzal Gatehouse and let out a groan at already long line of ponies waiting to be passed through.

Still, she still had her trump card to get ahead; herself.

Looming tall over the line of ponies who were flinching and doing their best not to gawk at her, which she made worse as she tore into her apple a bit savagely, using her long tail hand to toss the core into a garbage bin and flashing her sharp teeth, she began a mental countdown as she waited for the Guards to react.

From her experience, she knew that they’d pull her out in three, two-

“Excuse me,” a Guard in the ruby armor of the Cadenza Guardhouse called out to her, narrowing his eyes and doing his best to look intimidating and in control of the situation. Which she broke by turning her gaze to him and everypony seeing him jump a bit. “Y-you’ve been randomly selected for private screening; please follow me.”

With a smirk on her face, she thanked the Guard and refrained from making any smart comments as they might actually screen her instead of just pushing her along to not scare the ponies in the line.

Picking up the tune from before, she followed the unicorn into the antechamber of the Gatehouse and walked over to the table to pull out a chair for herself with her third hand.

“So,” Xvital grinned, as she sat down. “What do you need to ask me?”

“What is your purpose in the Upper, madam?” he asked, doing his best to remain calm despite his instincts must be screaming at him to run from her.

“Research on different books of magical theory in the Great Library,” she answered, which was true enough.

“I see,” he said, a notepad levitating in his salmon pink aura. “Length of visit?”

“A couple of weeks, I suppose, it might take me some time to do my work,” that was true from a certain point of view.

“Name?”

“Xvital,” she answered, knowing that there was little chance that the Equestrian government would reach out to the Cuanmiztl Kingdom and using her real name would be fine. “And despite having no magic myself, I foresee your next question is to what species I am, yes?” She had placed a hand to her forehead in the classic psychic fortune teller position, with the guard letting out an annoyed chuckle.

“Actually, no, I know an ahuizotl when I see one,” he snorted as he eyed her bag, no doubt trying to determine if it was worth his time to check it out properly.

“Heh, you’re one of the few in Canterlot that knew what I was,” Xvital let out a bark of laughter. “Those in the Lower thought I was some sort of monster or demon.”

That did it, playing on the chance that this Guard was a Middle pony and he’d be one of those that looked down on the Lower ponies. With his own laughter, he said, “Those uneducated saps, can’t even recognize one of our nation's allies.” The guard tossed the notepad into a pile of other notepads that had sign above saying today’s date. “Just pass through the bug detector light and you’ll be good to go.”

“Thank you, good sir,” she said, standing upright and moving towards the door. Giving a cheeky smile to the protesting ponies in the line she had just jumped ahead of, she passed through the threshold with the magical lamp remaining inert as she was no changeling.

Moving into the straight and smooth cobblestone path streets, she looked at the broad buildings and statues of the first king of Equestria and the twin goddess-princesses of old. Running a hand over the statue of Blueblood the Great bowing to Celestia and Luna as he always claimed he was their regent until their return and thus below them, she let out a sigh.

She was finally here, in the Upper of Canterlot, all she had to do now was find the Great Library and she could move onto the next part of her plans.

…
Oh crap, she had forgot to remember the path to the Grand Library.

Facepalming, she reached into her pack and pulled out the map for the Upper and tried to decipher it to no avail.

Maybe she could ask for help…

---

It had been half an hour since she got into the Upper, and was so damn close to just going back to the Gatehouse to ask for directions.

Maybe Xvital was wrong to mock the Middle ponies for pretending to be snooty Upper ponies; it might have some validity as no one would help her, not even the damn beggars!

Just one more try and she was done being niece.

“Excuse me sir,” she called out to a rather serious looking nox pony striding past her. He looked young, about her age if she was to gamble her money on it, and had a long sword tied to his barrel for easy draw. His coat was light grey and mane was a dark silver colour, with his talon emblem being a sword. Which meant, Xvital realized as the stallion had signet ring on right wing, he was a noble and more than likely prone to using that sword while knowing he wouldn’t get in trouble. In short, not the type she’d usually interact with. But she had already attracted his attention and she decided she had to go all in. “I’m trying to find the Great Library, do you know where it is?”

He gave her a pointed look, the frown on his face tightening for a moment before turning back to face the street he was walking down. After a few seconds, he said in a detached tone, “The Great Library is my destination as well. If you wish, you may follow me.”

Oh. A kindish noble brat that didn’t scoff or stare at her. That was different. Blinking, she said, “Thank you, sir.” as she moved to walk beside him. “You’re the first to actually help me today and this map is no help whatsoever.” She said, tilting out the map to the stallion.

He raised an eyebrow at her before holding out his wing to take the map from her but not using his words to ask for it. Silently handing it over, his eyes roamed over it for a moment before handing it back. “That is because due to you being sold a map of the Upper East labeled the Upper West; whomever sold you this did a disservice to you or a serious misprint has occurred.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said smiling while kicking herself for such a rookie mistake. “I cannot believe I did this.”

“It is nothing; I have lived in the Upper West all my life and at times I get lost myself,” the stallion stated, turning sharply around corner and not even looking at the changeling beggars he forced to press themselves against the buildings with ponies from inside screaming at them to get away.

“Heh,” she let out a laugh, eyes roaming the landscape before looking at the stallion who was frowning deeper now for some reason. “I mean it, thank you for this. You’re a nice guy.”

“I was just doing the proper thing, nothing more miss,” he said, although his frown seemed to flicker for a moment as he lead her through a short tunnel that had towering building on top of it that had a lot of flags hanging out the windows.

“I’m Xvital,” she said introducing herself, holding out her tail hand to the stallion.

“Lord Night Blade,” he said, taking her hand with his wing and shaking it to exact properness a young lord should give to a common citizen with his attention focused straight ahead.

That meant he missed Xvital’s face flush white for a moment as she knew how important the Blade family was but quickly pushed it away as it was not her concern.

Stepping out of the tunnel, she saw the massive library, one of the Great Wonders of the world. It had a golden statue of Magi of Stars lined with priceless jewels that all had magical alarms attached to them that would go off if somepony tried to steal them. Magi of Stars was the patron of knowledge and according to legend, once a student to Goddess Princess Celestia before surprising her and becoming the leader of the Virtuous Six.

Even though Xvital thought most of the pony’s mythology was bunk, she was still awed by the sight of this legendary pony and all the stories attached to her and the Virtuous Six. And she knew better than to mock the faith of a pony who had a sword and talent was swordplay.

Walking up the grand and sparkling marble staircase with ponies already sitting on the steps and talking about different topics, Xvital and Night Blade entered the high ceiling entrance hall of the Grand Library, with stacks upon stacks of shelves of neatly placed books in the background with ponies milling around on the ground and in the air.

“I hope you are good enough to take care of yourself, miss Xvital,” Night Blade said, dipping his head politely as decorum would call for. "If you need anything, you can inquire Matron Hush Tone over there for advice,” he tilted his head much more openly to an elderly looking griffin standing behind the front desk, who smiled warmly at stallion. “Excuse me, Matron Tone, but-”

“She is in her section at this time, Night, as you know full well,” she clicked her beak at the stallion who perked up before taking over into the air and into a direction deep in the library. Shaking her head and muttering soft things under her breath, the griffon turned her focus on Xvital. “So my dear, how can we help you expand your knowledge?”

Xvital smiled, and asked for directions to the magical theorems books so she could began her work, with a mental checklist of the next three steps of what she needed to do already forming in her mind and make herself a tidy profit.

Comments

[Copper Springs]

Very interesting so far. I like how the stories of the Mane Six have become mythology and I'd love to see how much of the mythology is true and how much of it has been distorted.